Idris Elba Video Interview On ‘Mandela,’ Mandela’s Death, Winnie

Well, you know, first thing I did was go to South Africa and sort of understand South Africa, its people, its politics, its history with Nelson Mandela. I spent a lot of time watching and listening to footage of Nelson in various stages of his life, although there wasn'€™t that much in terms of footage on his younger life, but I read quite a bit and understood what that journey was. I did extensive work as well with the voice because I don'€™t look like Nelson Mandela, which is a challenge for the audience, but I spent time making sure that the voice was as close to his as possible to give that sweet spot for the audience.

The thing that most surprised me was the journey within prison. You know a lot of people sort of know that he was an activist, went to jail and came back and became president, but not many people know what happened in prison. And it was one of the most, I think, for Mandela believe it or not, the most liberating part of his life was being in prison and sort of reinventing himself, educating himself, reeducating himself and sort of building his patience and forgiveness for then to come out and become one of the most recognizable and significant world leaders the human race has seen.

It was very surreal. I was next to the Duchess and Prince William; it was a royal premiere. There was suddenly a buzz within the auditorium. I'€™m not sure what was going on and then I saw some phones being passed around and Prince William had his phone and he looked at the message and I could see his face had taken a bad hit and I was wondering what was going on and then someone passed me a phone and then the news broke. It was so - I burst into tears immediately and was so emotional and then we made the decision to go onto the stage after the film while the credits were rolling to make an official announcement to the audience. It felt like the right thing to do, but of course as I stood up and stood out, the audience wanted to clap for me but we had to hush them down and explain to them what had happened.

I think what surprises most people is his younger life he wasn'€™t a saint. He wasn'€™t a sinner, but he was definitely no saint. And it's important I think audiences are surprised about his personal life, which we sort of show, warts and all, and make it very graphic and honest, which is actually what the Mandela'€™s asked us to do, is to be as honest as we could about who they are.

She was absolutely, I want to say, thankful actually because I think the movie certainly shows her in all lights and I think in the past there have been movies about Winnie that haven't shown her particularly in a real light and this one had sort of done its best to bring her to life in real. So I think she was very moved by it. Naomie Harris, who played Winnie Mandela, has had personal conversations with Winnie about it and my understanding is that she feels very good about this.